Lecture on The Fairy Rotodyne

[davej]

Some of you may be interested in this Lecture by the Royal Aeronautical Society

Entry is £1.00 for non members

Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 7.00pm
BAE Systems Park Centre, Farnborough (on Aerospace Boulevard)

Branch Annual General Meeting
followed at 7.30pm by lecture (all welcome):

The story of the Fairey Rotodyne

David Gibbings

The early-1960s Fairey Rotodyne project was an attempt to create a short haul airliner capable of providing a city centre to city centre capability. The aim was to combine the VTOL landing capabilities of a conventional helicopter with the in-flight speed characteristics of a fixed wing turboprop. Although it proved not to be a viable concept for a number of reasons, many of the purely engineering challenges it presented were successfully overcome. This lecture will tell the story of the Rotodyne, focusing particularly on the engineering aspects. Despite the failure of the project, it did not mark the end of the road for compound helicopter concepts. David Gibbings will finish with a brief review of developments in this field since the 1960s.
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David Gibbings joined the RAF as an Engineering Apprentice in 1949 and subsequently trained as a Navigator, before joining Fairey Aviation Ltd in 1955 as a Flight Test Navigator engaged in air-air weapons testing. In 1959 he switched to the manned aircraft field as a Flight Test Engineer, initially with Fairey and then with Westland when the latter company took over Fairey Aviation in 1962. Within Westland he was involved in the development of the Scout, Wasp and Gannet aircraft, and later became Project Flight Test Engineer for the Lynx helicopter. He was appointed Company Chief Flight Test Engineer in 1989 and retired in 1993, during which year he was awarded the Kelly Johnson Medal for Outstanding Achievement by the Society of Flight Test Engineers. During his time at Fairey Aviation he was heavily involved in the Rotodyne programme from the start to its termination in 1962.

Contact for further details: Dr Mike Philpot - mgphilpot@waitrose.com